Howe Veteran Recalls Guarding JFK Gravesite

HOWE — Not many from this area had a front-row seat to funeral activities for President John F. Kennedy after he was assassinated in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963.

HOWE — Not many from this area had a front-row seat to funeral activities for President John F. Kennedy after he was assassinated in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963.

But a Howe man did.

Carl Maxwell was a 20-year-old Army Specialist 4, serving in Company B of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry, otherwise known as The Old Guard, when Kennedy died.

"Anything that involved pomp and pageantry in Washington, D.C. — that was our job," Maxwell, 70, explained as he sat at his kitchen table covered with newspaper clippings, photographs, books and magazines about JFK’s death and funeral during an interview at his home near Howe.

The Old Guard conducts ceremonial affairs to honor fallen comrades or for special events. Company E of The Old Guard is responsible for guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns, Maxwell said.

The Bates native’s first brush with Kennedy had been two weeks earlier during a Veterans Day event along Pennsylvania Avenue.

"We had been at parade rest. When he came by, we came to attention and did a rifle salute," Maxwell recalled, gesturing with his hands how he held the rifle. "You could see the makeup on his face — he was that close."

Maxwell was in infantry training at Fort Myers, Va., next to Arlington National Cemetery, when he heard the news of the assassination.

"We had just finished training and were looking forward to hot showers," Maxwell explained, adding that a guy with a transistor radio announced the news to his unit.

They initially thought it was a joke; then reality set in.

"Our lives changed drastically from that day on," said Maxwell, who graduated from Waldron High School.

While all companies of The Old Guard stayed fairly busy all the time performing at funerals and other special ceremonies, the services required after JFK’s death were especially monumental, according to Maxwell.

After Kennedy was brought back to Washington, his body lay in repose in the White House for a period of time before being moved to the Capitol Rotunda to lie in state before the funeral service. Maxwell was assigned to the detail at the rotunda for crowd control as the public was allowed to walk by the casket.

"Over half a million people had come to the rotunda to view the casket," Maxwell said. "That was a chore — keeping all those people in line."

Maxwell said members of The Old Guard, along with other servicemen from other branches of the service, would join hands to form the boundaries within which the public was to stay and repeated "Keep the line moving, please" so many times they were saying the phrase in their sleep. They would rotate duties, and he opened the door for people coming into the rotunda for a period of time. He was there when Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk both came to visit.

"Bobby Kennedy had a beard stubble of about three days’ growth and bloodshot eyes, which were to be expected," Maxwell said of the late president’s brother.

On Nov. 25, 1963, the day of Kennedy’s funeral Mass, Maxwell was stationed outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral standing guard at the flat-bed trailer which accommodated the press, sneaking peeks over his shoulder of all the dignitaries in attendance.

"That was the day John-John gave that famous salute," Maxwell said, adding that he recalled seeing former President Harry Truman "flashing that famous smile."

"As soon as they buried him, we rotated companies guarding the grave," he added. The Old Guard continued to post at least four guards stationed at the four corners of the white picket fence surrounding Kennedy’s grave until civilian guards were hired months later, Maxwell said.

He recalls being on duty when actor Dan Blocker of "Bonanza" fame dropped by to pay his respects. One of the most unusual tributes was a woman from Africa or Jamaica, according to Maxwell, who built a small fire and covered her head with her shawl, chanting at the gravesite.

Maxwell said his most unnerving encounter while with The Old Guard was working the Martin Luther King Jr. speech earlier that year at the Lincoln Memorial.

"They fell us out and went around and passed out live clips of ammo," Maxwell said. "Luckily, we never had to use them. That was probably the most frightening time I ever had in there."

He was discharged from the Army in 1965.

After spending time in California, he settled in Arkansas and then eastern Oklahoma. A semi-retired painter and treasure hunter, he and his wife have three children and six grandchildren.

For a young soldier from rural Arkansas, the events of November 1963 will forever be etched in his mind.

"We realized the importance of it all," Maxwell said, looking at the photos of himself standing guard near the white picket fence surrounding JFK’s grave. A pressed rose Maxwell took from the gravesite is preserved in an album. "It was quite an experience. I couldn’t have even told you who the president was when I got out of high school. We didn’t think about things like that.

"But that was quite a deal for a little boy from the hills of Arkansas."